Module 6 : PHYSICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

Lecture 34 : Intrinsic Semiconductors

Objectives
In this course you will learn the following

Intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors.

Fermi level in a semiconductor.

p-type and n-type semiconductors.

Compensated semiconductors.

Charge neutrality and law of mass action.

Intrinsic Semiconductors
An intrinsic semiconductor is a pure semiconductor, i.e., a sample without any impurity. At absolute zero
it is essentially an insulator, though with a much smaller band gap. However, at any finite temperature
there are some charge carriers are thermally excited, contributing to conductivity. Semiconductors such
as silicon and germanium, which belong to Group IV of the periodic table are covalently bonded with
each atom of Si(or Ge) sharing an electron with four neighbours of the same specis. A bond picture of
silicon is shown in the figure where a silicon atom and its neighbour share a pair of electrons in covalent
bonding.

Gallium belongs to Group III and bonds with arsenic which belongs to Group V to give a III-V
semiconductor. In GaAs, the bonding is partly covalent and partly ionic. Other commonly known III-V
semiconductors are GaN, GaP, InSb etc. Like the III-V compounds, Group II elements combine with
Group VI elements to give semiconductors like CdTe, CdS, ZnS etc. Several industrially useful
semiconductors are alloys such as Al GA As.
The number of carriers in a band at finite temperatures is given by , where

is the density of state and is the Fermi function which gives the

thermal probability. If , we may ignore the term 1 in the denominator of the Fermi

function and approximate it as

Using this the density of electrons in the conduction band ( ) may be written as follows.

where we have substituted

The integral is a gamma function whose value is . Substituting this

value, we get for the density of electrons in the conduction band

where

One can in a similar fashion one can calculate the number density of holes, , by evaluating the

expression
where is the Fermi function for the occupancy of holes which is the same as

the probability that an electron state at energy is unoccupied. For , the density

of holes is given by

where

The following table gives generally accepted values of some of the quantities associated with the three
most common semiconductors at room temperature (300 K).

in eV /m /m /m

Si 1.12 1.08 0.56

Ge 0.66 0.55 0.37

GaAs 1.4 0.04 0.48

Exercise 1
Derive expression (B).
For an intrinsic semiconductor the number of electrons in the conduction band is equal to the number of
holes in the valence band since a hole is left in the valence band only when an electron makes a
transition to the conduction band,

Using this and assuming that the effective masses of the electrons and holes are the same one gets
giving

i.e. the Fermi level lies in the middle of the forbidden gap . Note that there is no contradiction with
the fact that no state exists in the gap as is only an energy level and not a state.

By substituting the above expression for Fermi energy in (A) or (B), we obtain an expression for the
number density of electrons or holes ( )

where is the width of the gap.

Exercise 2
Derive the expression (D).
Exercise 3

For a two band model of silicon, the band gap is 1.11 eV. Taking the effective masses of electrons and
holes as and , calculate the intrinsic carrier concentration in silicon

at 300 K.

(Ans. m .)

Exercise 4

Show that, if the effective masses of electrons and holes are not equal, the position of the Fermi energy
for an intrinsic semiconductor is given by
Current in an intrinsic semiconductor
For semiconductors both electrons and holes contribute to electric current. Because of their opposite
charge, their contribution to the current add up. For an intrinsic semiconductor with a single valence
band and a conduction band, the current density is given by

where and are respectively the electron density and speed while and are the hole density

and speed. Using and and the fact that , we have

which gives the conductivity as

Example 7
Estimate the electrical conductivity of intrinsic silicon at 300 K, given that the electron and hole

mobilities are m /V-s and m /V-s.

Solution
The conductivity arises due to both electrons and holes

The intrinsic carrier concentration was calculated to be at 300 K. Thus

Exercise 5

A sample of an intrinsic semiconductor has a band gap of 0.7 eV, assumed independent of temperature.

Taking and , find the relationship between the conductivity at 200 K and

300 K.

(Ans. ratio of conductivity = 2014.6, eV )

Extrinsic Semiconductors

An extrinsic semiconductor is formed by adding impurities, called dopants to an intrinsic semiconductor

to modify the former's electrical properties. There are two types of such impurities - those which provide
electrons as majority carriers are known as n-type and those which provide holes as majority carriers
are known as p-type .

Using this and assuming that the effective masses of the electrons and holes are the same one gets

n- type Semiconductors

Consider a matrix of silicon where the atoms are covalently bonded.

If we add a pentavalent atom (As, P etc.) as an impurity, the dopant atom replaces a silicon atom
substitutionally. As the dopant has five electrons, only four of these can be used in forming covalent
bonds while the fifth electron is loosely bonded to the parent atom. This electron can become detached
from the dopant atom by absorbing thermal energy.

In the band picture, the energy level of the additional electron lies close to the bottom of the conduction
band. Such an energy level is called a donor level as it can donate an electron to the empty

conduction band by thermal excitation. We may see this by assuming that the fifth electron of the donor
is orbiting around a hydrogen-like nucleus consisting of the core of the donor atom with the following
modifications made into the formula for the energy of an electron in the hydrogen atom.
permittivity of the free space is replaced by , the permittivity of the medium (silicon).

free electron mass being replaced by the effective mass of the donor electron.

Recalling that the energy of an electron in the the hydrogen atom is given by

where , we need to replace by and by , where is the

relative dielectric constant of the medium. Using for Si and , the free electron
mass, the ionization energy of the electron bound to the donor atom is eV, if

the electron is in the ground state. Thus the donor energy level lies close to the bottom of the
conduction band. In case of semiconductors, the donor ionization energy is defined as the energy
required to elevate the donor electron to the conduction band.
Exercise 6

Calculate the ionization energy of a donor impurity in Ge. The effective mass of electrons is

and the dielectric constant is 16.

(6.4 meV)

p- type Semiconductors
If the Si matrix is doped with Group III impurities like boron or aluminium, it cannot provide electrons to
complete the covalent bonds. However, the impurity readily accepts an electron from a nearby Si-Si
bond to complete its own bonding scheme. A hole is thereby created which can freely propagate in the
lattice.
In the band picture, the acceptor energy level lies close to the top of the valence band. Electrons

near the top of the valence band can be thermally excited to the acceptor level leaving holes near the
top of the valence band. In these semiconductors, known as P-type semiconductors, the primary current
is due to majority carriers which are holes.

Example 8
In an n-type semiconductor 25% of the donor atoms are ionized at 300 K. Determine the location of the
Fermi level with respect to the donor level.
Solution
As 25% of donor atoms are ionized, the occupation probability of donor level is 0.75. Thus
Solving, eV.

Exercise 7

In a p-type semiconductor 40% of atoms are ionized at 300 K. Find the location of the Fermi level with
respect to the acceptor level.

( eV)

A compensated semiconductor contains both donor and acceptor impurities. The compensation is said
to be complete if in which case the semiconductor behaves like an intrinsic semiconductor.

Example 9
Solution
Given

we get . Using eV corresponding to room

temperature, we get eV. Rewriting this as

which gives . The occupation probability of the donor level is

Thus 71% of donor atoms are ionized. The Fermi level is situated 0.0236 eV below the donor level.
Condition of Charge Neutrality
In the absence of an electric field, a bulk material is charge neutral. Let

number density of electrons

number density of holes

For an intrinsic semiconductor so that the number density of electrons may be written as

Let the density of donor atoms be denoted by and that of acceptor atoms by . If the

corresponding densities of ionized donors and acceptors are and respectively, the charge

neutrality condition for the bulk sample becomes

If all the donors and acceptors are ionized, then,

Using , we get

Thus we get a quadratic equation for the electron density

with solution

Example 10

Pure germanium has a band gap of 0.67 eV. It is doped with per m of donor atoms. Find

the densities of electrons and holes at 300 K. (effective masses )

Solution
For Ge, the intrinsic concentration is

Substituting given numerical values, . The density of donor atoms is

/m . Thus the electron density is given by

Thus . Using , we get, for the density of holes

Exercise 8

A sample of Ge at 300 K is doped with of donor atoms and

acceptor atoms. Find the densities of electrons and holes at 300 K.

(Ans. , )

Fermi Energy

Let be the Fermi level for a n-type semiconductor. The electron density is given by
where

We may rewrite the above equation as follows. Denoting the intrinsic Fermi energy as ,

where is the intrinsic electron density. In a similar way one can show that for type impurities, the

concentration of holes is given by

where is intrinsic hole density. Thus

This relationship is known as the Law of Mass Action .

Taking the logarithm of the equations for and , the shift in the Fermi energies due to doping for n-

type and p-type semiconductors are given by

Since for an n-type material, lies above the intrinsic Fermi level, whereas, for a p-type

material, and the Fermi level lies below the intrinsic Fermi level.

Example 11

Silicon crystal is doped with atoms per m . The donor level is 0.05 eV from the edge of the

conduction band. Taking the band gap to be 1.12 eV, calculate the position of the Fermi level at 200 K.
Solution
The intrinsic carrier concentration can be obtained from the known carrier concentration in Si at 300 K.
As the carrier concentration at 300 K is , the carrier concentration at 200 K is

. As the doping concentration is much larger

than , we can take . Thus

Exercise 9

Germanium has ionized acceptor density of /m and donor density of /m .

Taking the band gap to be 0.67 eV, calculate the equilibrium density of majority and minority carriers at
450 K and also the Fermi energy. [Hint : Using the intrinsic concentration at 300 K, find at 450 K

and use the expression for .]

(Ans. eV)

Recap
In this course you have learnt the following
At very low temperatures, semiconductors are like insulators as there are no free carriers in their
conduction band. As temperature is raised, thermal excitation of carriers takes place to the conduction
band leading to non-zero conductivity. Such semiconductors are called intrinsic.

The band gap in semiconductors is much smaller than that in insulators, which facilitates thermal
excitation in the former.

For an intrinsic semiconductor, the Fermi level lies in the middle of the forbidden gap.

Electrical properties of semiconductors can be modified by introducing impurities (known as dopants).

Dopants can have excess valence electrons per atom over that of the host material. Such
semiconductors are called n-type semiconductors for which the majority carriers are electrons.

In a p-type semiconductor, the dopant atoms have a deficit of valence electrons and in such cases the
majority charge carriers are holes.

A compensated semiconductor is one in which both types of dopants exist.